Search

This article examines the Akan myth of the separation of the Supreme Being from humankind and how the knowledge base which it forms can be used for achieving SDG 5 – Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. It developed from a study carried out against the backdrop that indigenous African culture subjugates women, especially, in matters of political participation and representation, and the management of national resources. Using qualitative research, specifically, phenomenology and in-depth interviews as the research tools, data was collected from a sample of 10 respondents made up of seven females and three males. It contends that many indigenous African cultural beliefs and practices, including the knowledge based on the myth, advance women's well-being and communicate ideas for achieving SDG 5. However, key aspects of the myth have not been interrogated for critical analyses. It submits that applying the widely affirmed worldviews of the complementary nature of gender dynamics associated with the Akan helps to utilise the myth for gender-mainstreaming and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisms across the tree of life colonize novel environments by partnering with bacterial symbionts. These symbioses are characterized by intimate integration of host/ endosymbiont biology at multiple levels, including metabolically. Metabolic integration is particularly important for sap-feeding insects and their symbionts, which supplement nutritionally unbalanced host diets. Many studies reveal parallel evolution of host/endosymbiont metabolic complementarity in amino acid biosynthesis, raising questions about how amino acid metabolism is regulated, how regulatory mechanisms evolve, and the extent to which similar mechanisms evolve in different systems. In the aphid/Buchnera symbiosis, the transporter ApGLNT1 (Acyrthosiphon pisum glutamine transporter 1) supplies glutamine, an amino donor in transamination reactions, to bacteriocytes (where Buchnera reside) and is competitively inhibited by Buchnera-supplied arginine—consistent with a role regulating amino acid metabolism given host demand for Buchnera-produced amino acids. We examined how ApGLNT1 evolved a regulatory role by functionally characterizing orthologs in insects with and without endosymbionts. ApGLNT1 orthologs are functionally similar, and orthology searches coupled with homology modeling revealed that GLNT1 is ancient and structurally conserved across insects. Our results indicate that the ApGLNT1 symbiotic regulatory role is derived from its ancestral role and, in aphids, is likely facilitated by loss of arginine biosynthesis through the urea cycle. Given consistent loss of host arginine biosynthesis and retention of endosymbiont arginine supply, we hypothesize that GLNT1 is a general mechanism regulating amino acid metabolism in sap-feeding insects. This work fills a gap, highlighting the broad importance of co-option of ancestral proteins to novel contexts in the evolution of host/symbiont systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages narratives from Tess Lea's (2020) book 'Wild Policy' for how they help consider the messy or 'wild' nature of global policy interventions on sustainability, including in its latest formation as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We do so alongside data from research on education in the territory of Nunavut, as well as informed by our experiences as settler and Cree university researchers concerned with place and land-informed education policy. Engaging with a methodological framing of policy ecology, the article considers both policy artifacts and 'ambiences' or materialities, and their interrelations. We examine how a Saskatchewan university's draft SDG plan manifests aspects of pre-fabricated globally mobile 'wild policy', including in its gaps in land-informed Indigenous engagement. Instead, we suggest how more systemic and decolonizing approaches to land-informed education policy, as in development in Inuit-based higher education in Nunavut, can inform both future policy decision-making and policy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Ciências is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of UNESUM-Ciencias is the property of Revista UNESUM-Ciencias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines how recombinant innovation is affected by member turnover and organizational learning within a corporate hierarchy. Prior work has overlooked the role of organizational structure in organizational learning, focusing instead on the knowledge provided by individual new hires or on the disruption caused by individual departures. We address this gap by applying March's [March JG (1991) Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organ. Sci. 2(1):71–87.] mutual learning model to a corporate hierarchy. In doing so, we theorize how the contributions of corporate staff to socializing new employees and to learning from the organizational code may differ from those of the organization's subunit members. Empirically, we examine the learning effects of aggregate corporate and subunit arrivals and departures on novel recombinant innovation by subunits. Using 24 years of Motorola company directories, we construct membership turnover measures for corporate and subunit employees and exploit patent data to capture recombinant innovation. Our results suggest that, whereas the influx of new ideas through arrivals may be critical, breaking the pattern of inertial behavior through departures is more important for recombinant innovation. Corporate departures matter most for recombinant innovation, a result that reflects not only corporate staff's slower individual learning from the organizational code but also its ability to update that code more quickly. In supplementary analyses, we find different effects for technical and nontechnical staff and internal and external arrivals, as well as demonstrate the mutual learning mechanism using internal corporate documents to capture code change. Our study has strong implications for theories of organizational learning, strategic human capital, organization design, and innovation. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1618. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's Disease is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder globally, with prevalence increasing. There is an urgent need for new therapeutics which are disease-modifying rather than symptomatic. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a well-documented mechanism in both sporadic and familial Parkinson's Disease. Furthermore, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been identified as a bile acid which leads to increased mitochondrial function in multiple in vitro and in vivo models of Parkinson's Disease. Here, we describe the synthesis of novel C-nor-D-homo bile acid derivatives and the 12-hydroxy-methylated derivative of lagocholic acid (7) and their biological evaluation in fibroblasts from patients with either sporadic or LRRK2 mutant Parkinson's Disease. These compounds boost mitochondrial function to a similar level or above that of UDCA in many assays; notable, however, is their ability to boost mitochondrial function to a higher level and at lower concentrations than UDCA specifically in the fibroblasts from LRRK2 patients. Our study indicates that novel bile acid chemistry could lead to the development of more efficacious bile acids which increase mitochondrial function and ultimately cellular health at lower concentrations proving attractive potential novel therapeutics for Parkinson's Disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: The need to develop digital skills and confidence among NHS staff is reflected in research and government strategies across the UK. This study aimed to measure the confidence, motivation and competence of the allied health professional workforce in relation to data and digital technology. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional design was used, with an online survey distributed to measure respondents' characteristics and their self-rating of confidence, motivation and experience in data and digital technology, and of competence relative to the domains of the Health Education England allied health professions digital competency framework. Mean scores were calculated to measure self-rated confidence, motivation and experience. Results: Mean scores on confidence and motivation to use digital technologies at work were moderate to high (7.34/10 and 8.33/10 respectively). High degrees of competence and applicability were reported in the 'general' and 'data management and clinical informatics' domains. Conversely, in the 'decision support' domain, 79.6% (n=490) of respondents reported that the competencies were applicable, but also had low competency rates (64.6%, n=397). In the domains of 'meta competency' and 'records, assessments and plans', 48.3% and 91% of respondents respectively reported low competence. Conclusions: Allied health professions have a moderate–high degree of confidence and motivation towards engaging with digital technologies in practice. However, self-perceived competence in some aspects of the domains of the digital competency framework is lacking. Workforce development programmes should consider learning needs related to electronic health records, decision support and use of machine learning or artificial intelligence. Focus should also be directed towards the development of digital leadership and strategy development skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the size of endosymbiont populations is challenging because endosymbionts are typically difficult or impossible to culture and commonly polyploid. Current approaches to estimating endosymbiont population sizes include quantitative PCR (qPCR) targeting endosymbiont genomic DNA and flow-cytometry. While qPCR captures genome copy number data, it does not capture the number of bacterial cells in polyploid endosymbiont populations. In contrast, flow cytometry can capture accurate estimates of whole host-level endosymbiont population size, but it is not readily able to capture data at the level of endosymbiotic host cells. To complement these existing approaches for estimating endosymbiont population size, we designed and implemented an object detection/segmentation tool for counting the number of endosymbiont cells in micrographs of host tissues. The tool, called SymbiQuant, which makes use of recent advances in deep neural networks includes a graphic user interface that allows for human curation of tool output. We trained SymbiQuant for use in the model aphid/ Buchnera endosymbiosis and studied Buchnera population dynamics and phenotype over aphid postembryonic development. We show that SymbiQuant returns accurate counts of endosymbionts, and readily captures Buchnera phenotype. By replacing our training data with data composed of annotated microscopy images from other models of endosymbiosis, SymbiQuant has the potential for broad application. Our tool, which is available on GitHub, adds to the repertoire of methods researchers can use to study endosymbiosis at the organismal, genome, and now endosymbiotic host tissue or cell levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bile acid receptors have been identified as important targets for the development of new therapeutics to treat various metabolic and inflammatory diseases. The synthesis of new bile acid analogues can help elucidate structure–activity relationships and define compounds that activate these receptors selectively. Towards this, access to large quantities of a chenodeoxycholic acid derivative bearing a C-12 methyl and a C-13 to C-14 double bond provided an interesting scaffold to investigate the chemical manipulation of the C/D ring junction in bile acids. The reactivity of this alkene substrate with various zinc carbenoid species showed that those generated using the Furukawa methodology achieved selective α-cyclopropanation, whereas those generated using the Shi methodology reacted in an unexpected manner giving rise to a rearranged skeleton whereby the C ring has undergone contraction to form a novel spiro–furan ring system. Further derivatization of the cyclopropanated steroid included O-7 oxidation and epimerization to afford new bile acid derivatives for biological evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The use of cross-laminated lumber (CLT) for building construction has gained interest in the United States (US) and Canada. Although anecdotal market size claims exist, few quantitative studies have estimated the potential market size or discussed the impact of CLT on lumber supply. This paper presents a method to quantify CLT markets and lumber supplies based on data for the Northwest US. The western US was chosen for its early adoption of CLT combined with a long history of commercial timber construction. Structural designs of archetype buildings were combined with projected multifamily residential and commercial building construction to estimate the demand for CLT. These figures were reduced to account for assumptions that address market penetration and population density. In the case study for the Northwest, the total potential market is less than the existing CLT production in western North America. Thus, the demand region was expanded to include the US and Canada west of the Rocky Mountains, resulting in an estimated demand of 800,000 m³/yr by 2030. A regional lumber supply study suggests that the lumber supply will support the existing CLT industry, which utilizes approximately 2% of the selected lumber classifications, with an unknown impact on lumber cost and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-harm and mental health are inter-related issues that substantially contribute to the global burden of disease. However, measurement of these issues at the population level is problematic. Statistics on suicide can be captured in national cause of death data collected as part of the coroner's review process, however, there is a significant time-lag in the availability of such data, and by definition, these sources do not include non-fatal incidents. Although survey, emergency department, and hospitalisation data present alternative information sources to measure self-harm, such data do not include the richness of information available at the point of incident. This paper describes the mental health and self-harm modules within the National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS), a unique Australian system for monitoring and mapping mental health and self-harm. Data are sourced from paramedic electronic patient care records provided by Australian state and territory-based ambulance services. A team of specialised research assistants use a purpose-built system to manually scrutinise and code these records. Specific details of each incident are coded, including mental health symptoms and relevant risk indicators, as well as the type, intent, and method of self-harm. NASS provides almost 90 output variables related to self-harm (i.e., type of behaviour, self-injurious intent, and method) and mental health (e.g., mental health symptoms) in the 24 hours preceding each attendance, as well as demographics, temporal and geospatial characteristics, clinical outcomes, co-occurring substance use, and self-reported medical and psychiatric history. NASS provides internationally unique data on self-harm and mental health, with direct implications for translational research, public policy, and clinical practice. This methodology could be replicated in other countries with universal ambulance service provision to inform health policy and service planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) are key to the central dogma of molecular biology. While Raman spectroscopy holds great potential for studying RNA conformational dynamics, current computational Raman prediction and assignment methods are limited in terms of system size and inclusion of conformational exchange. Here, a framework is presented that predicts Raman spectra using mixtures of sub-spectra corresponding to major conformers calculated using classical and ab initio molecular dynamics. Experimental optimization allowed purines and pyrimidines to be characterized as predominantly syn and anti, respectively, and ribose into exchange between equivalent south and north populations. These measurements are in excellent agreement with Raman spectroscopy of ribonucleosides, and previous experimental and computational results. This framework provides a measure of ribonucleoside solution populations and conformational exchange in RNA subunits. It complements other experimental techniques and could be extended to other molecules, such as proteins and carbohydrates, enabling biological insights and providing a new analytical tool. The conformational flexibility of monoribonucleotides can make interpreting their vibrational spectra challenging. Here a combination of classical and ab initio molecular dynamics is used to calculate the contributions of different monoribonucleotide conformers to experimental Raman spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, the incidence of immunoglobulin antibody (IgG)-mediated heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HITS) reported in various studies ranges between 1 and 3% as reported by (Anna et al. in Int J Cardiol. 144:405-7, 2010). We report two patients who underwent off-pump coronary artery grafting and developed severe HITS, leading to catastrophic and rare thrombotic complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly enantioselective, organocatalytic, and scalable synthesis of a very unusual cis‐decalin‐cis‐hydrindane tricyclic diterpenoid system has been achieved. Despite the prevalent pharmacological space that the related trans,trans and trans,cis‐systems occupy, there have been no reports of an asymmetric synthesis of the cis,cis systems in the literature until now. We demonstrate the flexibility of our approach not only through access to a diverse range of products, all of which are attained in exceptionally high selectivities, but also by showing their easy conversion to the corresponding trans,cis‐system and other derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary post-truth environment imposes limitations and ethical consid erations upon the political theatre-maker's ability to highlight political leaders' exceptional acts of deception. By unpacking and applying Giorgio Agamben's writing on the State of Exception to post-truth political performances, Alex D. Wilson discusses in this article how political deception is an exceptional act of sovereign power and how the state of exception is an inherently performative phenomenon. The inherent challenges this state of affairs presents to the theatre are discussed with particular reference to David Hare's Stuff Happens (2004), which, it is argued, falls into its own state of exception in terms of its approach to truth. Alex D. Wilson is a PhD candidate in Theatre Studies at the University of Otago, who recently completed an MA which explored ethical authorship of British theatrical work produced in response to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He is the artistic director of Arcade, a Dunedin-based performing arts company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although harmful consumption of alcohol and other drugs (both illicit and pharmaceutical) significantly contribute to global burden of disease, not all harms are captured within existing morbidity data sources. Indeed, harms occurring in the community may be missed or under-reported. This paper describes the National Ambulance Surveillance System, a unique Australian system for monitoring and mapping acute harms related to alcohol and other drug consumption. Data are sourced from paramedic electronic patient care records provided by ambulance services from across Australia. Coding occurs in a purpose-built system, by a team of specialised research assistants. Alcohol, and specific illicit and pharmaceutical drugs, rather than broad drug classes, are manually coded and the dataset is reviewed and cleaned prior to analysis. The National Ambulance Surveillance System is an ongoing, dynamic surveillance system of alcohol and other drug-related harms across Australia. The data includes more than 140 output variables per attendance, including individual substances, demographics, temporal, geospatial, and clinical data (e.g., Glasgow Coma Scale score, naloxone provision and response, outcome of attendance). The National Ambulance Surveillance System is an internationally unique population-level surveillance system of acute harms arising from alcohol and other drug consumption. Dissemination of National Ambulance Surveillance System data has been used to inform and evaluate policy approaches and potential points of intervention, as well as guide workforce development needs and clinical practice at the local and national level. This methodology could be replicated in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like all organisms, aphids, plant sap-sucking insects that house a bacterial endosymbiont called Buchnera, are members of a species interaction network. Ecological interactions across such networks can result in phenotypic change in network members mediated by molecular signals, like microRNAs. Here, we interrogated small RNA data from the aphid, Myzus persicae, to determine the source of reads that did not map to the aphid or Buchnera genomes. Our analysis revealed that the pattern was largely explained by reads that mapped to the host plant, Brassica oleracea, and a facultative symbiont, Regiella. To start elucidating the function of plant small RNA in aphid gut, we annotated 213 unique B. oleracea miRNAs; 32/213 were present in aphid gut as mature and star miRNAs. Next, we predicted targets in the B. oleracea and M. persicae genomes for these 32 plant miRNAs. We found that plant targets were enriched for genes associated with transcription, while the distribution of targets in the aphid genome was similar to the functional distribution of all genes in the aphid genome. We discuss the potential of plant miRNAs to regulate aphid gene expression and the mechanisms involved in processing, export and uptake of plant miRNAs by aphids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel artificial intelligence sythethized controller in the mechanical system which has high speed computation because of the LMI type criterion. The proposed membership functions are adopted and stabilization criterion of the closed-loop T-S fuzzy systems are obtained through a new parametrized LMI (linear matrix) inequality which is rearranged by machine learning membership functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a bio-based building material that enables rapid construction and buildings with low embodied energy. Despite its comparative maturity in European markets, relatively little information regarding process design and economics for the manufacture of cross-laminated timber is available in the literature. Two techno-economic analyses were conducted to quantify the mill-gate cost of cross-laminated timber. The cross-laminated timber manufacturing process was described, and costs were analyzed for two facility scales. Cross-laminated timber produced at the large-scale facility using lumber priced at an average value for the northwest United States has a minimum selling price of $536/m³. Sensitivity analyses were used to define the impact of plant size, asset utilization, lumber price, plant capital cost, material waste, and other variables on minimum selling price. The cost of cross laminated timber rises quickly when a facility is not fully utilized. The second-ranking cost controlling variable is lumber price, while energy prices have minimal influence. The price of cross laminated timber can be optimized by locating a facility near low-cost lumber. The lowest-price region analyzed was the southeast United States using Southern Pine, which reduced the cost of cross laminated timber to $518/m³. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant sap-feeding insects are widespread, having evolved to occupy diverse environmental niches despite exclusive feeding on an impoverished diet lacking in essential amino acids and vitamins. Success depends exquisitely on their symbiotic relationships with microbial symbionts housed within specialized eukaryotic bacteriocyte cells. Each bacteriocyte is packed with symbionts that are individually surrounded by a host-derived symbiosomal membrane representing the absolute host-symbiont interface. The symbiosomal membrane must be a dynamic and selectively permeable structure to enable bidirectional and differential movement of essential nutrients, metabolites, and biosynthetic intermediates, vital for growth and survival of host and symbiont. However, despite this crucial role, the molecular basis of membrane transport across the symbiosomal membrane remains unresolved in all bacteriocyte-containing insects. A transport protein was immunolocalized to the symbiosomal membrane separating the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum from its intracellular symbiont Buchnera aphidicola. The transporter, A. pisum nonessential amino acid transporter 1, or ApNEAAT1 (gene: ACYPI008971), was characterized functionally following heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes, and mediates both inward and outward transport of small dipolar amino acids (serine, proline, cysteine, alanine, glycine). Electroneutral ApNEAAT1 transport is driven by amino acid concentration gradients and is not coupled to transmembrane ion gradients. Previous metabolite profiling of hemolymph and bacteriocyte, alongside metabolic pathway analysis in host and symbiont, enable prediction of a physiological role for ApNEAAT1 in bidirectional host-symbiont amino acid transfer, supplying both host and symbiont with indispensable nutrients and biosynthetic precursors to facilitate metabolic complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction has received significant attention for potential North American markets; however, few claims have been substantiated with structural design details that assess the amount of CLT to be used in various classifications of buildings. This article presents a design process used for the development of archetype buildings to estimate the potential CLT demand. Three types of structural systems were identified: platform construction, rocking walls with a separate gravity system, and hybrid construction consisting of reinforced concrete elevator cores and rocking walls. Platform construction was used for buildings 1 to 6 stories in height, the rocking wall system was used for buildings 6 to 12 stories in height, and the hybrid structural system was used for buildings 12 to 18 stories in height. The assumptions and design process for each of these archetypes are presented in this paper. Based on the structural analyses, CLT use factors were developed for predicting market demand as well as cost estimation of CLT building projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the mutual, through‐space compression of atomic volume experienced by approaching topological atoms causes an exponential increase in the intra‐atomic energy of those atoms, regardless of approach orientation. This insight was obtained using the modern energy partitioning method called interacting quantum atoms (IQA). This behaviour is consistent for all atoms except hydrogen, which can behave differently depending on its environment. Whilst all atoms experience charge transfer when they interact, the intra‐atomic energy of the hydrogen atom is more vulnerable to these changes than larger atoms. The difference in behaviour is found to be due to hydrogen's lack of a core of electrons, which, in heavier atoms, consistently provide repulsion when compressed. As such, hydrogen atoms do not always provide steric hindrance. In accounting for hydrogen's unusual behaviour and demonstrating the exponential character of the intra‐atomic energy in all other atoms, we provide evidence for IQA's intra‐atomic energy as a quantitative description of steric energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants within the Nitrogen-fixing Clade (NFC) of Angiosperms form root nodule symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Actinorhizal plants (in Cucurbitales, Fagales, Rosales) form symbioses with the actinobacteria Frankia while legumes (Fabales) form symbioses with proteobacterial rhizobia. Flavonoids, secondary metabolites of the phenylpropanoid pathway, have been shown to play major roles in legume root nodule symbioses: as signal molecules that in turn trigger rhizobial nodulation initiation signals and acting as polar auxin transport inhibitors, enabling a key step in nodule organogenesis. To explore a potentially broader role for flavonoids in root nodule symbioses across the NFC, we combined metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of roots and nodules of the actinorhizal host Datisca glomerata and legumes of the genus Medicago. Patterns of biosynthetic pathways were inferred from flavonoid metabolite profiles and phenylpropanoid gene expression patterns in the two hosts to identify similarities and differences. Similar classes of flavonoids were represented in both hosts, and an increase in flavonoids generally in the nodules was observed, with differences in flavonoids prominent in each host. While both hosts produced derivatives of naringenin, the metabolite profile in D. glomerata indicated an emphasis on the pinocembrin biosynthetic pathway, and an abundance of flavonols with potential roles in symbiosis. Additionally, the gene expression profile indicated a decrease in expression in the lignin/monolignol pathway. In Medicago sativa , by contrast, isoflavonoids were highly abundant featuring more diverse and derived isoflavonoids than D. glomerata. Gene expression patterns supported these differences in metabolic pathways, especially evident in a difference in expression of cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase (C4H), which was expressed at substantially lower levels in D. glomerata than in a Medicago truncatula transcriptome where it was highly expressed. C4H is a major rate-limiting step in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis that separates the pinocembrin pathway from the lignin/monolignol and naringenin-based flavonoid branches. Shikimate O -hydroxycinnamoyltransferase, the link between flavonoid biosynthesis and the lignin/monolignol pathway, was also expressed at much lower levels in D. glomerata than in M. truncatula. Our results indicate (a) a likely major role for flavonoids in actinorhizal nodules, and (b) differences in metabolic flux in flavonoid and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis between the different hosts in symbiosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on proposals made by the Council of the European Union for revising Energy Efficiency Directive 2012 which mandates energy efficiency improvements within the European Union. It mentions about energy consumption from renewable energy sources; greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions; and Clean Energy package adopted by the Commission.

The optimisation of a peptide-capped glycine using the novel force field FFLUX is presented. FFLUX is a force field based on the machine-learning method kriging and the topological energy partitioning method called Interacting Quantum Atoms. FFLUX has a completely different architecture to that of traditional force fields, avoiding (harmonic) potentials for bonded, valence and torsion angles. In this study, FFLUX performs an optimisation on a glycine molecule and successfully recovers the target density-functional-theory energy with an error of 0.89 ± 0.03 kJ mol−1. It also recovers the structure of the global minimum with a root-mean-squared deviation of 0.05 Å (excluding hydrogen atoms). We also show that the geometry of the intra-molecular hydrogen bond in glycine is recovered accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research summary: Although most theories of growth presume that growth varies with the focus and limits of managerial attention, the actual role played by attention has remained largely implicit. In contrast, this article explicitly considers attention structure and the processes that place sustained focus on growth issues. We explain how attention structure—specialized attention within a particular unit and integrated attention between units—affects both bottom‐up (stimulus‐driven) and top‐down (schema‐driven) attentional processing of new issues. We also examine the relationship between attention structure and divisional interdependencies, identifying conditions under which different attentional patterns generate organizational tensions that lead to architectural elaboration: the delineation of new organizational units. This logic is illustrated with examples from Motorola, a large telecommunications equipment provider, during a period of sustained growth. In linking theories of growth with the attention‐based view (ABV), we augment both perspectives and offer an approach that provides a better understand growth's cognitive underpinnings. Managerial summary: We examine how, within a multi‐divisional firm, the pattern of organizational attention affects firm growth. We highlight the attention focus within and between divisions and the corporate office and specific processes that shape the intensity and direction of attention in the firm's constituent units. In particular, we examine how corporate interventions, appointment of managerial resources, prototyping, and corporate charters direct managerial attention and the identification and advancement new opportunities in support of growth. Our approach also considers how attention patterns and formal organizational structure interact to cause tensions between managers, and when these tensions lead to the delineation of new subunits. To illustrate our logic, we use examples drawn from Motorola, a large telecommunications equipment provider, during a period of sustained growth. Our approach offers managers insights into attentional design of the multi‐divisional firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although many insects are associated with obligate bacterial endosymbionts, the mechanisms by which these host/endosymbiont associations are regulated remain mysterious. While microRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently identified as regulators of host/microbe interactions, including host/pathogen and host/facultative endosymbiont interactions, the role miRNAs may play in mediating host/obligate endosymbiont interactions is virtually unknown. Here, we identified conserved miRNAs that potentially mediate symbiotic interactions between aphids and their obligate endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola. Using small RNA sequence data from Myzus persicae and Acyrthosiphon pisum, we annotated 93 M. persicae and 89 A. pisum miRNAs, among which 69 were shared. We found 14 miRNAs that were either highly expressed in aphid bacteriome, the Buchnera‐housing tissue, or differentially expressed in bacteriome vs. gut, a non‐Buchnera‐housing tissue. Strikingly, 10 of these 14 miRNAs have been implicated previously in other host/microbe interaction studies. Investigating the interaction networks of these miRNAs using a custom computational pipeline, we identified 103 miRNA::mRNA interactions shared between M. persicae and A. pisum. Functional annotation of the shared mRNA targets revealed only two over‐represented cluster of orthologous group categories: amino acid transport and metabolism, and signal transduction mechanisms. Our work supports a role for miRNAs in mediating host/symbiont interactions between aphids and their obligate endosymbiont Buchnera. In addition, our results highlight the probable importance of signal transduction mechanisms to host/endosymbiont coevolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that the European Commission has revealed that 2018 would be an important year for the European Union (EU) in the energy industry. Topics discussed include adoption of new EU legislation on climate change, revising the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive by the EU, rules for the internal market in electricity, recasting of the 2009 Renewables Directive and directive on risk-preparedness in the electricity sector.

The creation of multitrack mixes by audio engineers is a time-consuming activity and creating high-quality mixes requires a great deal of knowledge and experience. Previous studies on the perception of music mixes have been limited by the relatively small number of human-made mixes analysed. This paper describes a novel "mix-space", a parameter space which contains all possible mixes using a finite set of tools, as well as methods for the parametric generation of artificial mixes in this space. Mixes that use track gain, panning and equalisation are considered. This allows statistical methods to be used in the study of music mixing practice, such as Monte Carlo simulations or population-based optimisation methods. Two applications are described: an investigation into the robustness and accuracy of tempo-estimation algorithms and an experiment to estimate distributions of spectral centroid values within sets of mixes. The potential for further work is also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational modulations of molecular interactions are of significant importance in compound properties optimization. We have previously shown that fluorination of conformationally rigid cyclohexanols leads to attenuation of their hydrogen-bond (H-bond) donating capacity (designated by p KAHY) when OH⋅⋅⋅F intramolecular hydrogen-bond (IMHB) interactions occur, as opposed to an increase in p KAHY due to the fluorine electronegativity. This work has now been extended to a wider range of aliphatic β-fluorohydrins with increasing degrees of conformational flexibility. We show that the observed differences in p KAHY between closely related diastereomers can be fully rationalized by subtle variations in populations of conformers able to engage in OH⋅⋅⋅F IMHB, as well as by the strength of these IMHBs. We also show that the Kenny theoretical Vα(r) descriptor of H-bond acidity accurately reflects the observed variations and a calibration equation extended to fluorohydrins is proposed. This work clearly underlines the importance of the weak OH⋅⋅⋅F IMHB in the modulation of alcohol H-bond donating capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many insects host their obligate, maternally transmitted symbiotic bacteria in specialized cells called bacteriocytes. One of the best-studied insect nutritional endosymbioses is that of the aphid and its endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola. Aphids and Buchnera are metabolically and developmentally integrated, but the molecular mechanisms underlying Buchnera transmission and coordination with aphid development remain largely unknown. Previous work using electron microscopy to study aphid asexual embryogenesis has revealed that Buchnera transmission involves exocytosis from a maternal bacteriocyte followed by endocytotic uptake by a blastula. While the importance of exo- and endocytic cellular processes for symbiont transmission is clear, the molecular mechanisms that regulate these processes are not known. Here, we shed light on the molecular mechanisms that regulate Buchnera transmission and developmental integration. Results: We present the developmental atlas of ACYPI000536 and ACYPI008904 mRNAs during asexual embryogenesis in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Immediately before Buchnera invasion, transcripts of both genes were detected by whole-mount in situ hybridization in the posterior syncytial nuclei of late blastula embryos. Following Buchnera invasion, expression of both genes was identified in the region occupied by Buchnera throughout embryogenesis. Notably during Buchnera migration, expression of both genes was not concomitant with the entirety of the bacterial mass but rather expression colocalized with Buchnera in the anterior region of the bacterial mass. In addition, we found that ACYPI000536 was expressed in nuclei at the leading edge of the bacterial mass, joining the bacterial mass in subsequent developmental stages. Finally, quantitative reverse transcription real-time PCR suggested that early in development both transcripts were maternally provisioned to embryos. Conclusions: We venture that ACYPI000536 and ACYPI008904 function as nutrient sensors at the site of symbiont invasion to facilitate TOR-pathway-mediated endocytosis of Buchnera by the aphid blastula. Our data support earlier reports of bacteriocyte determination involving a two-step recruitment process but suggest that the second wave of recruitment occurs earlier than previously described. Finally, our work highlights that bacteriocyte-enriched amino acid transporter paralogs have additionally been retained to play novel developmental roles in both symbiont recruitment and bacteriome development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of organizational structure and performance feedback on termination decisions-in particular, product phaseout. Using quarterly product-level data on the major mobile handset manufacturers for the period 2004-2009, we analyze how product-level feedback affects product phaseout and how these decisions are conditioned by organizational structure-the extent to which decision making is centralized. We argue that such structure affects termination in two ways: directly, through coordination, and indirectly, by shaping the interpretation of performance feedback. Our baseline models indicate that as performance increases above aspirations, the rate of phaseout decreases. We find that as performance declines below aspirations, the rate of phaseout decreases, but then increases when the product falls below a certain sales threshold. We also find evidence that centralization amplifies the feedback effect above aspirations but attenuates it below aspirations. This study links two pillars of the Carnegie school, aspiration levels and hierarchy, to explain the complexity of phaseout following perceived success or failure. We thereby augment the growing scholarship on performance feedback by considering some important conditional effects imposed by a centralized structure. Our focus on centralization expands the scope of theory concerning organization design by linking structure and cognition to explain firm behavior, especially termination decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study to understand the cognitive-developmental path relating to how humans understand their experiences of beauty. Topics discussed include benefits of understanding stages of cognitive development in helping teachers designing curriculum appropriate to students' levels of development, cognitive-developmental stages of understanding beauty based on work of psychologist Jean Piaget, and analysis of Understanding Beauty Interview (UBI) transcripts.

It is now commonplace to criticise the failings of Westminster's 'political class'. One part of this criticism regards the limited extent to which Westminster politicians reflect the social background of the voting population. Each party has addressed the problem in different ways, with Labour more likely to focus on the representation of women and the Conservatives on people with 'proper jobs' before election.1 Devolved and European elections have provided new opportunities for parties: Labour's push for more elected women has been relatively effective in the Scottish, Welsh and European elections; and, before UKIP made significant gains in European Parliament elections in 2014, it promised candidates who were 'not career politicians'. Yet, overall, new levels of elected representation have not produced a distinctive 'political class'. There is still a common pattern of professionalisation across devolved, Westminster and European parliaments, in which elected politicians have often similar kinds of education and employment background, and generally struggle to mirror the social background of their populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facilitating the evolution of new gene functions, gene duplication is a major mechanism driving evolutionary innovation. Gene family expansions relevant to host/symbiont interactions are increasingly being discovered in eukaryotes that host endosymbiotic microbes. Such discoveries entice speculation that gene duplication facilitates the evolution of novel, endosymbiotic relationships. Here, using a comparative transcriptomic approach combined with differential gene expression analysis, we investigate the importance of endosymbiosis in retention of amino acid transporter paralogs in aphid genomes. To pinpoint the timing of amino acid transporter duplications we inferred gene phylogenies for five aphid species and three outgroups. We found that while some duplications arose in the aphid common ancestor concurrent with endosymbiont acquisition, others predate aphid divergence from related insects without intracellular symbionts, and still others appeared during aphid diversification. Interestingly, several aphid-specific paralogs have conserved enriched expression in bacteriocytes, the insect cells that host primary symbionts. Conserved bacteriocyte enrichment suggests that the transporters were recruited to the aphid/endosymbiont interface in the aphid common ancestor, consistent with a role for gene duplication in facilitating the evolution of endosymbiosis in aphids. In contrast, the temporal variability of amino acid transporter duplication indicates that endosymbiosis is not the only trait driving selection for retention of amino acid transporter paralogs in sap-feeding insects. This study cautions against simplistic interpretations of the role of gene family expansion in the evolution of novel host/symbiont interactions by further highlighting that multiple complex factors maintain gene family paralogs in the genomes of eukaryotes that host endosymbiotic microbes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property tuning by fluorination is very effective for a number of purposes, and currently increasingly investigated for aliphatic compounds. An important application is lipophilicity (logP) modulation. However, the determination of logP is cumbersome for non-UV-active compounds. A new variation of the shake-flask logP determination method is presented, enabling the measurement of logP for fluorinated compounds with or without UV activity regardless of whether they are hydrophilic or lipophilic. No calibration curves or measurements of compound masses/aliquot volumes are required. With this method, the influence of fluorination on the lipophilicity of fluorinated aliphatic alcohols was determined, and the logP values of fluorinated carbohydrates were measured. Interesting trends and changes, for example, for the dependence on relative stereochemistry, are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property tuning by fluorination is very effective for a number of purposes, and currently increasingly investigated for aliphatic compounds. An important application is lipophilicity (logP) modulation. However, the determination of logP is cumbersome for non-UV-active compounds. A new variation of the shake-flask logP determination method is presented, enabling the measurement of logP for fluorinated compounds with or without UV activity regardless of whether they are hydrophilic or lipophilic. No calibration curves or measurements of compound masses/aliquot volumes are required. With this method, the influence of fluorination on the lipophilicity of fluorinated aliphatic alcohols was determined, and the logP values of fluorinated carbohydrates were measured. Interesting trends and changes, for example, for the dependence on relative stereochemistry, are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]